Dan The Road Trip Guy
Join Dan the Road Trip Guy as he explores the adventures, memories, and life lessons of diverse guests from all walks of life. This podcast goes beyond the road to celebrate the journey of life by uncovering stories of passion, resilience, and the pursuit of happiness. Whether you’re a seasoned traveler or simply love a good story, Dan the Road Trip Guy will leave you inspired and ready to embrace your own adventures. Buckle up and enjoy the ride!
I hope you enjoy the episodes. You can find me at https://www.dannyneal.com.
Dan The Road Trip Guy
30 Bucket List Items Before 30 with Hannah Edwards
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A lot of people talk about “living boldly” without ever defining what that actually looks like on a random Tuesday. Hannah Edwards does define it, not with hype, but with stories and habits that prove she’s doing the work. We start with the basics that somehow say a lot: her first car was a red Mustang, and she drove it home barely able to see because she didn’t know the seat could crank up. That’s the tone for the whole ride: start anyway, learn fast, and laugh at yourself.
From there we get into the adventures that shaped her. Hannah shares what it was like traveling to Germany with Team USA as a photographer and videographer, plus her early years riding dirt bikes and why motocross is equal parts fun, expensive, and risky. We also go deeper than adrenaline. Hannah walks through her musical path from piano lessons at four to percussion, guitar, and leading worship, then tells the story of performing at the Bluebird in Nashville, a dream moment in a legendary songwriting room.
Then we hit the big challenges: climbing Half Dome in Yosemite and training for a full Ironman in Chattanooga. Hannah breaks down the full Ironman distance (2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, 26.2-mile run), her 22 to 27 hour weekly training routine, and what taper week really looks like. She also shares the mindset shift that ties it together: “Don’t miss your life waiting on your life to begin.”
Listen, then subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review so more people find the show. What’s one goal you want to chase without letting life pass you by?
You can follow Hannah on Instagram at HannahsLife33. Be sure to follow her on the Ironman in September.
Welcome And Meet Hannah
SPEAKER_00Welcome to Dan the Road Trip Guy. I'm your host Dan, and each week we'll embark on a new adventure, discovering memory and life lessons of our incredible guests. From everyday travelers to thrill seekers and everyone in between, this podcast is your front row seat to inspiring stories of passion, resilience, and the pursuit of happiness. So buckle up and enjoy the ride. I am on the road again today. My guest is Hannah Edwards. Hannah and I have known each other for several years. Linda and I were just with Hannah and some other friends, and she was talking about the 30 things she wanted to do before she turned 30. And I said, Well, have you ever been on a podcast? To which she replied, No. And I said, Well, there you go. New ad for your list. We'll talk about her list later. Some people might look at Hannah and go, She's an adrenaline junkie. Some might say she's just an adventurer. I personally think she just likes to experience life and the things it has to offer. So buckle up and we're on the road. Welcome to the show, Hannah.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, Dan. Pleased and blessed and honored to be here. It is, as you said, my first podcast interview. So thank you for being the first.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Could be the start of many. Could be. We'll see. All right. So we'll kick this show off with take a minute or two. Just tell my listeners who is Hannah Edwards.
SPEAKER_01Who is Hannah Edwards? First and foremost, I'm a child of God, and that my identity is in Christ. And that is the biggest and most important thing about me. But I'm also, you know, as most people are, a daughter, a sister, a friend. I'm an athlete. I'm a leader. I lead worship. And as you said, kind of an adrenaline junkie and adventurer.
SPEAKER_00That kind of sum up. That's who I am. Yeah. Yeah. Good sum-up.
First Car Mustang Story
SPEAKER_00So this is Dan the Road Trip guy. He always has to know what was your first car?
SPEAKER_01My first car was a red Mustang. It was a 2007. So it was older when I got it. I had over 100,000 miles on it, but it was new to me. It was super special. I got to drive up to Columbus to get it, you know, the Buckeyes. So they put it in the showroom at this used car lot, turned on the fight song. I drove out. It was it was a big deal.
SPEAKER_00So was that a automatic?
SPEAKER_01It was, yeah. I I learned how to drive stick. I wanted the freedom to not be, you know, driving stick all the time. So especially as my first car.
SPEAKER_00Any funny stories with that car?
SPEAKER_01They told me when I got it that a farmer had it before me and he used to use it to plow his fields. Which I mean, efficient use of, you know, field plowings. I think probably my funniest story with that one was when I first got it, drove it out of the showroom, and I'm a smaller person. I didn't realize that you could like crank the seat up higher. So I drove the entire way home, like barely able to see. And I'm like, I just bought this car and I'm gonna have to drive it for at least five, seven years, and I can't see. So realized when I got home that I could crank it up, and that was it was all good from there.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, you were thinking I'm gonna have to get a big inflatable cushion.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, books. I was gonna sit on something. Yeah, it was it was gonna be bad.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's good. Maybe that farmer bought it because he thought it was a Mustang horse or something. True, maybe. Confused. All right, that's a good story. It's an epic trip that stands out to you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So I honestly haven't been on too many epic road trips up until this point.
SPEAKER_00Well, that's disappointing.
SPEAKER_01That's something that I'm looking to do in my 30s uh as we're getting to the 30 list later on. We mostly just drove to Hilton Head when I was a kid. Like that was our family trip. I go on a lot of adventures, but I mostly fly there.
SPEAKER_00Tell us about one of those.
Germany Trip And Motocross Roots
SPEAKER_01I went to Germany last year.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01I can't drive to Germany, so gotta fly. Um, but I went over there with Team USA and I was able to be the photographer and videographer for the three-on-three basketball team. Um, and so that was super cool. It was kind of like the Olympics, but it you have to be a current college student to play in it. Opening ceremonies and walking out with Team USA, and it was just like it was a really cool trip.
SPEAKER_00So that does sound like a good trip. I learned, and I think this was just maybe this last year, you were a motocross racer. Yeah. How did you get into that? When did you get into that? And tell us about it.
SPEAKER_01Motocross was something that my dad loved. Uh, and so growing up, I was a daddy's girl and loved doing everything that he did. We got a little just pit bike when I was pretty like young, and we would ride that around. And then my first real bike was the TTR125, a blue Yamaha. And I learned how to do my first wheelie on that uh bike. And yeah, just super fun, just getting in the dirt and ripping around. And as a kid, you're a little bit more fearless than you are as you get older.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sure.
SPEAKER_01And lower to the ground, so the falls feel like they hurt a little bit less. That was super fun. Got all the gear and riding around and just it was short-lived. It's it's an expensive sport to be in. Uh, and kind of as I got into grade school and stuff, just getting into more team sports and things. But but yeah, it was fun.
SPEAKER_00Now, did you actually race?
SPEAKER_01I never actually got to race. I feel like that's like a commitment. You know, you gotta like drive to the races and you have a trailer and all the things, but yeah, and we never got quite that far. We would go pretty much every weekend and go ride somewhere and all the tracks around, and it was a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_00Maybe you should like rent a bike for a race and go racing.
SPEAKER_01Maybe in my 30s, I'll pick back up photocross. Maybe that would be my thing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Problem is this we become adults and we gotta work and all that. Yeah, and you gotta worry about it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you break your leg, you're just yeah, tough.
SPEAKER_00All right, that's good. Well,
Faith And Learning Instruments
SPEAKER_00you mentioned you're a Jesus follower. Yeah. Right? But you go well beyond that in leading worship uh at your church. I do. Yeah. And and I've Lyndon, I've been to your home and you have drums and you have guitars and you have all this stuff. All the instruments. Uh were you always musically inclined growing up?
SPEAKER_01Super grateful to my parents and grandparents for putting me in music just at a really young age. They kind of saw something, I guess, in me. And my mom put me in piano lessons when I was four. Okay. Um, and I took to it pretty fast, and then you know, choir through elementary school. I was kind of always playing an instrument growing up.
SPEAKER_00What do you play today?
SPEAKER_01The full story of instruments, I guess. So piano when I was four, I played that. I took lessons throughout all of elementary school up until middle school. I had choir. Then in fifth grade, you could choose to do band or choir. And I was like, I've already done choir, I'm gonna go for band. Picking an instrument, I went with percussion. I figured I had to carry drumsticks, it'd be super light.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01They surprised me with the bell kit, which was bigger than me at fifth grade, and I had to lug that thing back and forth to school every single day. And then in seventh grade, I was intrigued by acoustic guitar, and I got one and just kind of taught myself on YouTube how to play. That led into ukulele because that's basically the same thing, just one less string. Uh, I started playing drum set more recently. I had a good background with percussion, but I'd never actually like played set, and I'm learning bass right now. So Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And you lead the worship at your church.
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, I helped lead worship at uh my church, and it's one of my favorite things to do every week.
SPEAKER_00I think I'm remembering you took a trip to Nashville.
SPEAKER_01I did, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And you actually performed at the Bluebird. The Bluebird.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So for people who don't know, the Bluebird is kind of an iconic spot in Nashville for music. Taylor Swift was actually discovered there. Fun fact. My friend, she's been the golden pick uh at the Bluebird, which is kind of a big deal. And she's been able to play there a lot, and so she invited me to come with her this past February. And so we went down there and I was able to actually like play uh with her on stage, and that was really cool.
SPEAKER_00That's a pretty big deal.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, that's definitely on the 30 for 30 list.
Half Dome Hike Fear And Focus
SPEAKER_00So another adventure for you in 2024, you decided to go climb the half dome at Yosemite.
SPEAKER_01I did.
SPEAKER_00All right, that's just not something everybody goes, hey, let's go do this. And you shared that story with Linda and I. Just share the highlights of it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. It's been on the bucket list for a long time, and uh, it's harder to get into it now. I think everything kind of post-COVID, it's the bigger hikes require a permit. So I put in for the permit, all my cousins put in for it, and I ended up getting it. You can take seven people. So we all went out there and it's a long hike. You start at, you know, 3, 4 a.m. in the morning in the dark, you hike all the way up, you pass all these epic waterfalls, and you get past the sub dome, which is kind of like the last part of the hike, you're on exposed rock, and then you are looking up at the half dome, and it's the one of the scariest things. Like it's probably the most scared I've been looking up and thinking, like, I'm about to climb this. And so people don't know the half dome, um, it has kind of like wooden rungs and then these two cables, and you're just kind of pulling yourself up physically with your arms and walking up these planks, but there's spots where they're they're missing planks, and so you're kind of just you have to kind of go fast between those sections because there's nowhere to kind of stop and hold yourself because you're pretty much vertical. So that was definitely my heart was beating at a very high rate the entire climb. Uh, and the probably the scariest part, we were about halfway up, it was pretty crowded that day. So you're kind of having to pull yourself to the side and kind of like let people pass you who are coming down because up and down is all on the same path. And this uh water bottle, one of the like hard plastic ones, falls out of somebody's backpack above us and it starts just like down the rock, and you can hear it for like three minutes. And you're like, if I slip right now, like I'm going to follow the water bottle, like I will be falling for eternity. Like it, like it was that was pretty scary.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, don't look at the water bottle.
SPEAKER_01Don't look down, but yeah, no, it was fun. I'm not afraid of heights or anything. It was just more the like fear of if I slip, you know, because people have died doing that hike. But yeah, the views at the top and just the accomplished feeling you got from from conquering it was really cool.
SPEAKER_00Is it harder to go up or come down?
SPEAKER_01It was harder to go up because you were having to hold yourself and coming down, people kind of get out of the way because you just got the momentum. But holding yourself on this like slick cable when you're vertical and your calves are cramping because they're at such an angle, and like you're like, come on, hurry up, and then you gotta keep moving. Like, so going up took double the time as it did to come down.
SPEAKER_00That whole gravity thing helps too. Now, did everybody go up with you?
SPEAKER_01You said you had most of our group. So it was my uncle, two of my cousins, uh, one of the girlfriends, and then my brother. And my brother wasn't feeling well. He had been cramping pretty bad on the kind of the end of the hike, and we all kind of decided like, hey, it's probably best to stay down, just don't risk it. It the time we were out there, a young lady had died just about two weeks before. So it was uh it was like the there was an eerie feeling definitely out there when we were were there. But yeah, six of us summoned.
SPEAKER_00Quite an accomplishment.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. Yeah, it was fun.
SPEAKER_00All right,
What A Full Ironman Takes
SPEAKER_00coming up in September.
SPEAKER_01Coming up in September.
SPEAKER_00Big event. The biggest event.
SPEAKER_01A full Iron Man.
SPEAKER_00Full Iron Man. Tell us uh number one, for people who maybe they don't even know what an Iron Man is. Yeah. Let's start there. What is an Iron Man?
SPEAKER_01I was definitely one of those people who didn't fully know what an Iron Man was recently. But so a full Iron Man is a 2.4 mile swim, and then you get off and you get on a bike and you ride for 112 miles, and then you get off the bike and you run a full marathon 26.2 miles all in the same day. Sure. Yeah, let's sign up for that. Why not? Yeah, you know, it's a buggy list thing.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Yeah. So you've done did a half.
SPEAKER_01A 70.3. Half. Yep.
SPEAKER_00And how did you feel after that?
SPEAKER_01I felt really good. So I was hoping to. That was kind of that's the plan, right? So you're training for a full, you do a half, like it shouldn't torture you. So yeah, so I did that in July. I did the Muncie Indiana 70.3, and I felt I felt like I could go again after, which was again the goal. And uh the legs were just like a little bit sore, but not anything more than a normal training week. I jumped right back into training on Monday. I did a lower body lift and run, and so it was good.
SPEAKER_00I follow you on social media. I see your crazy training going on, and I'm like, wow. Tell us how you train Iron Man.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it takes a lot of time. It's definitely a commitment. I spend right now about 22 to 27 hours every week training, and it's kind of split between swim, bike, run, and lift. And I'm typically doing two to three swims, three to four bikes, five to six runs, and then I try to get three to four lifts still in uh every week. So it's uh a lot of two a days, sometimes three and four a days. But yeah, it's uh trust the process, as they say, and it'll pay off.
SPEAKER_00So and what's the plan like a few days before? What's that last week? Yeah, taper week.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So I have I got a Airbnb down in Chattanooga where the Iron Man is. I'll leave Thursday morning. The race is on Sunday, but so basically the weekend before it start you start to taper off. And so when you're usually training 25 hours a week, I'll probably train 10 to 12 hours. So it'll totally cut in half.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um, and I'll just do so. Monday and Tuesday will be probably my last days of lifting. I'll do a shorter ride, a shorter run, a shorter swim. And then once I get down there on Thursday, you do what's called a shakeout run. So you do like 20 minutes, just loosen up the legs, maybe jump in and do a little bit of a practice swim, and then you ride usually a part of the race route just to kind of feel it out. So just really short stuff.
SPEAKER_00Chattanooga, I think you're gonna have a few hills.
SPEAKER_01Chattanooga is hilly. Yeah. So I signed up. I I'm I'm a new swimmer. I taught myself how to swim in March of 25.
SPEAKER_00Look at you.
SPEAKER_01Didn't know how to at all.
SPEAKER_00Check that off the list.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, getting 25 yards in the pool was like, I thought I was gonna die. Like it was tough. And so when I selected the race, it's a downriver swim, and I was like, this will be perfect. I'm not a great swimmer, so this will help me. Not really fully realizing that the bike was hilly and the run is hilly. So yeah, I've been putting in a lot of work on the legs this summer to try to get ready for that.
SPEAKER_00Good for you. Wow, I can't swim. Did you use YouTube to learn to swim?
SPEAKER_01YouTube is your best friend. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh. Maybe that's what I'll do. You've
Bucket List And 30 Before 30
SPEAKER_00mentioned the word bucket list several times. I've interviewed a lot of people on this podcast, and most people go, I don't know, Dan. I just don't have a bucket list. You clearly have had a bucket list. Let's talk about something big that's on that list.
SPEAKER_01I have had a bucket list since I was probably 10 years old. Like I remember riding in elementary school, like during like a free write time or whatever. And my bucket list is extensive. The better question is like, what isn't on my bucket list? Because pretty much if you can think about it, I've it's on there.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01But some of my highlights that I've yet to do swim with sharks.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Fungy jumping. Okay. I want this is gonna be this is gonna sound funny, but I want to ride a camel on the beach.
SPEAKER_00And do you know where you could do this?
SPEAKER_01I'm thinking somewhere in like the Middle East, like Saudi Arabia, maybe. Like I feel like there has to be a beach in camels over there.
SPEAKER_00There has to be. So yeah. I'm sure there's camels.
SPEAKER_01If somebody can make that happen, please let me know.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. But yeah, I I've already gone skydiving, that was on there. Also, I would love to just be in the water with dolphins and like hang out with them.
SPEAKER_00Some of those are pretty easy to check off. I think so. So I mentioned earlier on that you shared your 30 before 30 list. How's that going?
SPEAKER_01It's going actually way better than it was in March. We're checking one off today. Yeah, we're checking one off today. I did my first century ride, which is any bike over 100 miles uh last Saturday. Okay. So I got to check that one off. I think I have about five left on the list. Um, and we're 44 days out.
SPEAKER_00So 44 days.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, my last one, number 30, is to complete a full iron. Lord willing. We'll complete that. Yeah, you got it. You got it. I got it. Is there a time limit on the so most races are 17 hours. I've heard this one's 16 and a half, but I i they have a hard cutoff at midnight.
SPEAKER_00And what time does it start?
SPEAKER_01Usually around 7 or 7 30 a.m.
SPEAKER_00We'll be there in uh thoughts with you.
SPEAKER_01You can track me. I'll send you my bed not to be able to do that.
SPEAKER_00Yes, and we're gonna talk about that at the end. Imagine
Road Trip With John On PCH
SPEAKER_00today, take a road trip with anyone, living or deceased. Who would it be? Where would you go? What would you talk about?
SPEAKER_01I've had this question asked to me a few times.
SPEAKER_00Oh, really?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I thought I was the originator of it. Now I'm really disappointed.
SPEAKER_01I feel like my answer always changes. This time, because it's just on my mind recently, I'm gonna say John in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00Oh, wow. Interesting.
SPEAKER_01And where we would go, I would like to drive with John down the PCH, specifically the California portion.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01Because it's just so beautiful. I would like to talk to him. Well, first of all, I love John. Like I he's probably my favorite disciple, and he's also the fastest one because he got there first. So I relate to him, obviously. He was an athlete, clearly.
SPEAKER_00So he's the adrenaline judge.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he he got there first. But but also I feel like he just, you know, he always calls himself the disciple that Jesus loves, the one Jesus loves. And I think that that confidence in just who he was in Christ, it was is so like admirable. And I also I feel like I've kind of been reading a lot of books about just like what's going on in the world right now and and how it relates biblically and all that stuff. And I think that just talking to him about just his confidence and his faith and his boldness when it wasn't easy to do, I'm sure back then, you know, because there was so much persecution for for what he believes. And um, I feel like it would just be interesting to pick his brain on like where does that, I mean, I know where the courage and everything comes from, but just like what did that look like day day in and day out, like living that.
SPEAKER_00So yeah. Wow, that'd be a good ride.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And a beautiful one, too.
SPEAKER_00Yes, absolutely. So when you were growing up, what'd you want to be when you grew up?
SPEAKER_01A professional athlete. Easy, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Seems like that would be a good answer. Okay, if you weren't a professional athlete.
SPEAKER_01Uh pilot.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Or one of those just like rescue in the mountains people, like.
SPEAKER_00Okay, everything about a dream.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Also, two of the three of those I could still do, you know. So, like, we might have a midlife crisis situation happening in a few years.
SPEAKER_00It's highly possible, right?
SPEAKER_01Professional athlete didn't really pan out, but I am getting to still do athletic things and that keeps me engaged and excited.
SPEAKER_00So Yeah, as we we're now halfway through 2026, we're almost to 2027. Is there something big on your mind for 2027? Like race-wise or just in general? No, just in general.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so actually, funny, last night I was actually making my race list. Most people say they wait till after the Iron Man to like think about what's next. I was doing it last night. So yeah, there's several races that I would love to do next year. One of which I would love to get a sub-four hour marathon. Okay. I've only done one marathon up to this point. My second will be at the Iron Man, which I don't think that's gonna be sub-four unless I have like a crazy day. But uh yeah, I would love to do that. I one of my goals for next year is to learn how to cook. I not the greatest cook. My family can roast me. They know that like beef and sweet potatoes is like my go-to meal. So I would love to have some like signature signature dishes that I can make. And yeah, just being able to travel. I've not traveled as much this year just with training, but I'd like to get back into. I used to do try to do a trip a month, so I'd like to get back to that.
SPEAKER_00Well, we encourage you to do that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, thank you.
SPEAKER_00Well, Hannah, this has been fun for me. We've been thinking about this for a bit. I don't think I've had quite the experienced person on this show.
SPEAKER_01Awesome.
SPEAKER_00I've had a lot of people, but yeah, this may uh spur some things
Life Advice And How To Follow
SPEAKER_00on. Before we leave, give my listeners some life advice on living a wonderful life.
SPEAKER_01I love that question. I'm the type of person, as you probably gathered from this podcast, that I'm always on to the next thing. And it's like, all right, I'm not even at the iron man yet, and I'm thinking about like what's what's next. One of the things that I keep reminding myself, and I think it's such a great, great piece of advice, is don't miss your life waiting on your life to begin. Because today's good today, right? And so I think that having goals and aspirations and things that you're looking forward to is awesome. And I I'm a very goal-oriented person. January is my favorite month to plan and get ready for the year, but I think just being in the moment and soaking it all in as much as you can and not always being so forward thinking where you miss the present.
SPEAKER_00Too much planning and not enough uh enjoying.
SPEAKER_01Enjoying, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I like that. All right, before we go, how do people track you at the Iron Man, follow you on Instagram, however you want to find you?
SPEAKER_01So one of my 30 before 30 things was to start a public Instagram because I've always just had a private one. So I have recently uh started a public account. It's Hannah's Life33 on Instagram, and there I'll post my like bib number uh once I get it later on uh closer to the race. And you can actually like put my bib number in the Iron Man app or just on the website and you can track and it'll send you notifications if you want, or you can just kind of check in. It'll be a long day, so you know, feel free to check in at any point, but it'll track me throughout each checkpoint in the race and kind of what my paces are and how I'm moving. But yeah, I post all the content of all the crazy things and hobbies and everything that I do in life on my Instagram and social media in general. So that's that's a good way to follow me.
SPEAKER_00Great. Well, we hope people will do that because you are an inspiration. Thank you very much, Hannah. It's been fun.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. It's been my pleasure, Dan. See ya.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for tuning in to Dan the Road Trip Guy. I hope you enjoyed our journey today and the stories that were shared. If you have any thoughts or questions or stories of your own, I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to reach out to me anytime. Don't forget to share this podcast with your friends and family and help us to spread the joy of road trips and great conversations. Until next time, keep driving, keep exploring, and keep having those amazing conversations. Safe travels. And remember, you can find me on the internet at dantheroadripguy.com.
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